Contemporary Europe is, like that of earlier times, divided on several counts and reflects the continuing existence of several major identities. Individuals and groups invariably have several, overlapping or nested, identities at the same time. But there is also a hierarchy of different identities, with some groups having preferential access to particular European values and resources and others being partly or wholly excluded from them. Contemporary patterns of inclusion and exclusion

The question of who is responsible for factory sweatshops in the poorer regions of the globe remains a passionate political issue, in North America and beyond. Views on how responsibility for overseas sweatshops should be exercised differ between those who believe that it should be left to market forces to improve conditions and those who consider that everyone, as a consumer, bears some responsibility for their perpetuation and should intervene to bring abo

During the 1970s and 1980s, countries such as Hong Kong, Singapore and Taiwan benefited from their low-cost advantages in the new global division of labour. Now, however, the gap between rich and poor nations is wider and competition in the world economy greater, prompting campaigning groups to argue that contemporary low-wage economies do not have the options for economic development that their predecessors had.

Activity 4

Nike drew up its code of conduct, as I have indicated, to meet its own concerns. Cast your eye down the checklist in Extract 2 and give yourself time to consider what issues might have been added if the codeAuthor(s): The Open University

In most modern, urban, industrial societies, still images surround people for much of their daily lives: at home, at work, during leisure, while travelling. Does the evidence they offer differ fundamentally from that which comes from facts and figures printed on a page? It may be presented differently but we can derive socially relevant information as readily from a photograph as we can from written or numerical data. In some ways, it can be argued that the information that we can acqu

The emphasis is very much on the impetus individuals gave to change. Jim Nickson in particular seems to have been a man with energy and vision. The parents set up their own services where they were missing – a holiday chalet, swimming sessions, a club where young people could meet, above all the long-established Welfare Visitor Scheme. They campaigned for services in the community as an alternative to hospital admission. A strong theme is that work they started was often taken up by the loc

In our example, the museum had four floors. Au rez-de-chaussée (ground floor) means literally ‘at the same level as the carriageway’. Some buildings will also have a rez-de-jardin when the rear of the building is lower than the front and level with the garden. If the building only had two floors, we could say ‘upstairs’ and ‘downstairs’.

The term ‘informal carer’ is a label. It was coined to describe people who take on unpaid responsibility for the welfare of another person. It is a term which has meaning only when the public world of care provision comes into contact with the private world of the family where caring is a day-to-day, unremarked-upon activity, like reminding a young child to clean her teeth. Labelling yourself as an informal carer requires a major shift in the way you see yourself, a shift neither Arthur n

In this course, you will hear from four people who have been helped by a secular voluntary organisation offering support and assistance to the homeless.

The Swansea Cyrenians is one of several organisations that are in touch with homeless people in Swansea. Since 1973, it has been helping some of the most vulnerable people in society, including those who have suffered from homelessness. At the time of the recordings, in 1999, the organisation was running a number of schemes to he

The way a care environment is designed and organised can have a profound impact on the residents' lives, and careful consideration of factors such as the physical environment and the care home's values can have positive effects on their quality of life. For example, Philpot (2005) reported on the design of a building that illustrates the kinds of things that make life easier for people with dementia.